Hello Portland

Yesterday we started the final leg of our depositing Manda in Portland. We were both awake so we got started at 5AM. We had about 160 miles to go so we arrived at the apartment about 8:30 in the morning, basically before Amanda and her friend got up! We unloaded the car, parked the tow dolly on the side of the street and backed the truck up the hill and into the parking lot of her apartment building. I am kind of a pain when it comes to getting all the junk moved in so everyone let me get things organized and we soon had the truck emptied. From there we headed for the Penske truck return which was across the Willamette river. As usual we managed to get turned around a couple of times before we actually made it, but it really wasn't that big a deal.

I really loved the scenery along the Columbia River Gorge, we had reasonably good weather and could see for a really long way. We manged to see a few water falls while traveling along I-84 and decided we needed to make a day trip back up the gorge once we traded the truck in for our rental car.

Next on the agenda was to pick up the rental car and get some lunch. Other than a few missed turns things went fairly well. Next Amanda needed to get the car's emissions checked prior to registering it in Oregon. From there we dropped the girls off and headed back to the east to check into our hotel. By this time Linda and I were ready for some dinner and since we were staying in an extended stay hotel we needed to stop at and pickup some groceries.

Today Linda and Amanda started the process of getting the car switched to Amanda's name and registered. Things went well until the DMV asked for proof of residency. Amanda was not quite prepared so they needed to return to the apartment and get proof of her address. The car now lives in Oregon and Amanda is studying for her written drivers test.

The girls and I took a took the Historic Columbia River Highway from Troutdale to Multnomah Falls and then crossed the Columbia River using the Bridge of the Gods into Washington. From there we headed back west on highway 14 to Vancouver, then took 205 back into Portland.

At this point the girls are cleaning up the apartment and I have been drafted to make Mexican Chicken for dinner. I am currently drinking beer to recover from the day and preparing to make tonight's dinner.

We are working on getting the hundreds of pictures Linda's has taken during our trip organized and will post a link as soon as we have them ready.